On June 7, in a first-of-its-kind ruling, a French court convicted 11 out of 13 accused of cyberbullying a teenager over her views against Islam on social media. The 18-year-old started receiving threatening messages after her video criticizing Islam and the Quran posted last year from her social media accounts went viral.
On June 17, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has pushed ahead a draft in a majority vote that would deny President Joe Biden the Holy Communion because of his stance on abortion laws. Approval of this new statement will authorize individual bishops to deny Catholic politicians, who support abortion, the sacred rite of the Eucharist. Never has tensions between church divisions and the legislation been prevalent since the Trump administration. This new step has further reinstated the debate on the church's interference in politics.
The Vatican had sent a letter to the Italian government to request a change in a new anti-homophobia law to be passed. On June 17th, a "verbal note" by the Vatican's secretary of relation with states, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, was delivered to the Italian embassy, as confirmed by a spokesperson of the Vatican.
In Mitzitón, Mexico, local authorities and traditionalist Catholics burned down five indigenous Tzotzil evangelical houses. The properties belonged to pastor Alejandro Jiménez Jiménez and his sons. In January 2021, they had been expelled from Mitzitón after being accused of building an evangelical temple.
In Lakewood, Colorado, Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, had won a partial victory in a 2018 Supreme Court case for refusing to design a wedding cake for a gay couple on account of his own religious beliefs. Now again, he finds himself being the subject of another case regarding state discrimination laws for refusing to bake a birthday cake for a trans woman.
In January 2021, Republican Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 55 to amend Article IX of the Constitution of Tennessee. Article IX has three sections that bar church ministers, atheists, and people who participate or aid a duel from holding any office in the civil department of the state.
In a landmark decision earlier this month, Saudi Arabia amended their "Law of Procedure before Sharia Courts'' to allow women to live independently without permission from their male "guardian(s)".
